Impossible to Clean Smudge

by Thomas Andrews
(Brooksville, Fl, USA)

Q: My eyeglasses are cloudy/have a smudge, it's not a scratch or anything because it spreads when cleaning stuff is on it.

I've tried everything to no avail. Rubbing alcohol, lense cleaners, water, etc. The more I try to clean it, the worse it gets. Yes, it spreads across more of the lens, without the original part going away. It's like an unlimited amount of whatever it is.

We can't really afford to go to someone to fix it, or get new lenses. What should I do?

A: Hello,

I looked at the pictures and sincerely I cannot imagine what that smudge is. As I see it, it could be two situations here:

1. That is a chemical substance that got on the lens and is slowly damaging the lenses. In this case, it is important to identify the material and look for an "antidote", a cleaning solution fit for it and try to clean the lenses with that one. Of course, there is a chance that this cleaning solution will damage the lenses over, so you have to be careful about using it.

2. Maybe the smudge is one of the coating layers of the lenses and got damaged because you used an inappropriate cleaning solution on the lenses or something chemical got accidentally on the lens. In this case, the lens is damaged, and only an optician can tell you what to do next.

Because the layer is damaged, I guess that the only solution is to change the lenses.